


The Secret's Out

by Browneyesparker



Series: Bughead Stories [11]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews Can't Keep His Mouth Shut, Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, F/M, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, He gossips a lot, Riverdale, angst-ish, bughead (mentioned), but only sort of, this was supposed to be funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 20:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12733716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browneyesparker/pseuds/Browneyesparker
Summary: He wishes he had jumped on his motorcycle with her and got out of Dodge before everything had a chance to hit the fan. Or The one where Archie can’t keep his mouth shut and tells Jughead everything.





	The Secret's Out

**.**

“She didn’t mean it!”

Jughead frowns, wondering if Archie knows that Toni kissed him. “What do you mean she didn’t mean it? Who didn’t mean what?”  

“Betty!” Archie clarifies. “She didn’t really want to break up with you!”

Jughead sighs. “Well, it sounded pretty real to me.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t supposed to happen either. I may have not been as nice as she asked me to be when I came and broke up with you. . .” Archie trails off, having the decency to look ashamed of himself.

“Archie, you’re just confusing me now,” Jughead tells him, what he doesn’t add is he has no desire to deal with him even though he still doesn’t want to write him off as his best friend at the same time either. It’s not like he has that many people in the world.

“Okay, sit down and let me talk!” Archie answers, holding up a white paper bag. “I brought takeout from Pop’s.”

Jughead huffs. “Fine. But I don’t have much time, I have a lot to do.”

Archie presses his lips together and Jughead knows he’s refraining from saying something sarcastic about having new gang duties. He thinks maybe he should confide in him that he’s only doing it because he’s trying to keep an all-out civil war from breaking out. But he’s known Archie long enough to be able to tell when something’s troubling him, so he won’t burden him with his problems until he finds out what’s going on with him first.

**.**

“What’s going on with Betty?” Jughead asks when they’ve sat down at the kitchen table with their dinner. The not knowing is starting to make him feel anxious and things are starting to make less sense than before.

Archie looks around. “Look, I wouldn’t be telling you this because she swore me to secrecy—”

“When has being sworn to secrecy stopped you from telling anyone, anything?” Jughead jokes with him in spite of himself. “Weren’t you the one who ran around telling the whole school exactly who I was talking about in my football player article for the Blue & Gold?”

Archie smiles ruefully while he squeezes ketchup on his burger. “Okay but this more than my running around telling everyone something I should have probably keep to myself. I really think this is a matter of life or death this time!”

Jughead got the distinct feeling the other boy wasn’t exaggerating. “Okay. What happened?”

Archie looks around and lowers his voice like he’s afraid somebody is eavesdropping on their conversation. “She cut Ronnie out of her life first, she made a whole scene about how she was a party girl and she wasn’t interested in being her friend anymore. It was pretty brutal.”

“I came afterwards,” Jughead says, tapping his French fry up and down on his plate.

Archie nods slowly. “But it’s not like she wanted to break up with you,” he assures him. “Well, it’s. . . he told her to.”

Jughead suddenly feels sick to his stomach. “Who told her that she needed to break up with me?” he asks, even though he’s pretty sure what the answer is going to be.

“The Black Hood,” Archie whispers. “I’m not supposed to tell you what’s going on. She made me promise not to but. . . she’s stopped talking to me now. . . Kevin thinks he’ll be next. We’re afraid something bad is going to happen to her. I think he’s obsessed with her and that he wants her to himself.”

Jughead sits back in his chair, trying to process everything Archie’s told him. His first instinct is to berate him for betraying Betty’s trust and confiding in him. Except he’s relieved that he decided to share this information with him and not Reggie. It doesn’t matter that it directly involves him or not.

“Sh-she still loves me?” Jughead asks before he can stop himself, it is beside the point. Her life is probably at stake, matters of the heart shouldn’t matter right now but he needs to know, and since Archie isn’t talking to Betty at the moment, there’s no chance she’ll ever find out that he asked.

Archie nods. “You still love her, right?”

“You’re not going to run back to the Northside and tell her if I say yes, are you?”

Archie cracks a smile despite the tension in the trailer. “Is it a secret?”

“I have to do something. I need to protect her. . . why didn’t she tell me what was going on?” Jughead pulls his beanie off and frantically runs his hand through his hair.

Archie leans in like he’s eager to dish some more but there’s a serious look on her face. “He said he was going to carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey if she didn’t break up with you.”

Something occurs to Jughead. “She sent you because she knew I would see straight through her or maybe she wouldn’t be able to go through with it if she saw me.”

“She told me not to be cruel,” Archie says. “I messed that one up pretty good. . . I’m sorry, Juggie.”

Jughead shakes his head. “You didn’t mean it, you were only trying to help Betty out. You did a good job. . . I really thought you were serious.”

“There’s more, Jug. . .” Archie clears his throat. “She’s spiraling, she’s not sleeping or taking her ADHD medicine. She stopped working on the newspaper. Sometimes she comes to school wearing the same clothes from the day before. She isn’t even wearing her hair in a ponytail anymore. I think. . . no, I know she needs you. You’re the Ned Nickerson to her Nancy Drew, things are worse without you by her side.”

Jughead tries to think of what he can do to help her. Send members of the Serpents to watch her? He can already hear Sweet Pea and Toni’s arguments against it. He probably couldn’t get any of them to do it even as a favor to be repaid later. If he went to her, she would know he had talked to Archie and she would probably reject him. But he couldn’t just leave her unprotected. . . he’s desperate. He cannot imagine a world without Betty Cooper in it.

He wishes he had jumped on his motorcycle with her and got out of Dodge before everything had a chance to hit the fan.

He balls up his fists and presses them into his eyes until he sees spots. He can’t come up with a course of action, no matter how hard he tries. The only thing he can think to do is show up at her door and force her to let him stay with her. Consequences be damned, if he dies. . . he might as well die star struck and with the girl he loves.

“Jughead? What are you going to do?” Archie asks.

**TBC????????**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

> This was born from a conversation I had with one of my long-time fandom friends about how Archie would probably just go and tell Jughead everything. It was supposed to be funny. Kind of a joke about how Archie can’t keep his mouth shut. But of course, I can’t do anything too funny. . . so, this came out of it instead. I might have listened to “A Different Corner” by George Michael on repeat while I wrote it and that didn’t help matters. Anyways. Not exactly a fix-it story but it helped me work through some of my emotions. Let me know if you want a part 2! 
> 
> Friday is the big day for my holiday story. I hope I’ll see you then!
> 
> Until Next Time!


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